Wild Serenity
by The Chthonic Professor
Summary: Sasuke plunging his Chidori through Naruto's chest is enough to kill the blond, even with the Kyuubi to heal him. It is also, however, enough to awaken Naruto's Planeswalker Spark. Stranded confused and alone amidst the many Planes of the Multiverse, Naruto will do everything he can to find a way home, and maybe learn a thing or two about being a Planeswalker along the way.
1. The Jump

**_Wild Serenity_**

 ** _The Chthonic Professor_**

 ** _Summary:_** _Sasuke plunging his Chidori through Naruto's chest is enough to kill the blond, even with the Kyuubi to heal him. It is also, however, enough to awaken Naruto's Planeswalker Spark. Stranded confused and alone amidst the many Planes of the Multiverse, Naruto will do everything he can to find a way home, and maybe learn a thing or two about being a Planeswalker along the way._

 _Warning: AU storyline._

 _This will be a ChandraXNaruto story, and only ChandraXNaruto. Sasuke and Naruto will face a couple of hardships, but eventually Sasuke_ ** _will_** _be redeemed, and the two will develop a strong friendship. This is not a bashing fic either, so please don't ask me to do so._

-.-

 ** _Prologue - The Jump_**

-.-

"Hrk!"

Whirling red and black stared, shocked, into pained ocean blue.

The world had frozen. The waters of the Valley of the End's river rushed rapidly below. The leaves of Konoha's forests swayed in the wind high above. Dark clouds rumbled overhead, casting shadows upon the two, small children occupying the deep valley.

Sasuke could see none of this. His vaulted Sharingan spun, wild and active, yet Sasuke couldn't see his surroundings.

All colour, all sound, seemed to have faded from the world.

All, but the colour red.

The colour red, which was slowly bleeding out of Naruto's weary eyes. The colour red, which was slowly dripping down his best friend's chin as he coughed up blood.

With a horrible, terrible squelching sound, Sasuke's hand slipped from where it had been buried completely through Naruto's chest. The normally ever-energetic blond stumbled two steps back, swayed, and leaned forwards.

Sasuke reached forward to catch him on reflex, and faintly noticed just how small and frail the blond looked.

 _'_ _This… this can't be happening.'_ Sasuke's thoughts where a whirl. _'Why? Why is this happening?!'_

He'd seen it. His Sharingan had been activated. He'd seen, with pristine clarity, the perfect trajectory of Naruto's Rasengan. The technique should have smashed into his Chidori, disabling the weaker technique, before moving on to hit him in the chest. Sasuke had lost. He'd seen it happen.

Yet, the outcome had changed. He had won. _He wasn't supposed to have won_.

At the very last moment, Naruto had moved. It was a twitch, the slightest movement of the arm, but it had been enough. Instead of colliding with Naruto's Rasengan and defusing, as it was was supposed to, Sasuke's Chidori had continued onwards.

Directly into, and all the way through, Naruto's chest.

With a wet cough, Naruto splattered blood all over the front of Sasuke's shirt.

Even as Sasuke stared blankly ahead, his eyes unseeing, he could _feel_ Naruto's smile against his chest.

"I guess this is it, huh, teme?" Naruto whispered weakly.

Then he slumped, lifeless, in Sasuke's arms.

For a moment, Sasuke swore his heart had stopped alongside Naruto's.

His eyes burned white-hot, like fire, and as the world went dark he swore he could hear a voice screaming.

Only moments later, a bright white light engulfed Naruto, filling the Valley of the End with an ethereal glow.

The light vanished, and Naruto was gone.


	2. Message In A Bottle

**_Wild Serenity_**

 ** _The Chthonic Professor_**

 ** _Summary:_** _Sasuke plunging his Chidori through Naruto's chest is enough to kill the blond, even with the Kyuubi to heal him. It is also, however, enough to awaken Naruto's Planeswalker Spark. Stranded confused and alone amidst the many Planes of the Multiverse, Naruto will do everything he can to find a way home, and maybe learn a thing or two about being a Planeswalker along the way._

-.-

 ** _Chapter One - Message In A Bottle_** _(The Police)_

-.-

Naruto was awake.

It was an abrupt thing, something that Naruto seldom experienced. Normally, he either woke up in a cold sweat from a nightmare, or slowly from a dream. This was neither.

He'd been asleep. He was now awake.

Awake… and in a surprising amount of pain.

With a grunt, Naruto reached up and grasped at his throbbing chest. With a start, he realized that not only was his chest bandaged, but that his shirt and jumpsuit were missing as well.

Feeling with his fingers, as it was too dark to see, Naruto tried to take stock of his situation.

First and foremost, his bandages were rough and felt funny. _'They're stiff with dry blood,'_ Naruto realized, briefly running his fingers over the left side of his chest. _'But… why? How was I injured?'_ He wondered.

His thoughts were a blurry mess and he couldn't remember how he'd gotten into this situation. Moving his hands from his chest Naruto continued to explore with his fingers.

He clutched quickly at a soft blanket pooled beneath him, revelling in it's softness for only a moment before his fingers continued to wander. Beyond the soft blanket was the rough sensation of grainy wood.

There was wind howling fiercely outside and Naruto could hear the rattling sound of loose windowpanes from somewhere above.

He seemed to be lying on the floor of some sort of tiny cottage.

With a grunt and a groan of pain, Naruto curled in on himself and slid his left arm underneath his body, propping himself up. He hissed, his ribs aching something fierce. Just as he was about to get his feet beneath him to finally stand, a light, bright as the sun to his weary eyes, cut through the darkness.

For a moment, all was silent.

Brilliant blue stared interestedly into vibrant orange.

She was a girl, Naruto noted, taking in her pixy-like features and her flame-red hair. She stood on the bottom step of a staircase, her features illuminated by the soft glow of a wax candle. From her size and build alone, Naruto guessed she was probably around the same age as him.

"Oh," She said softly, seeming to take him in, bandages and all, with a slightly green tint to her cheeks. Naruto glanced down for a moment and had to admit that the sight made for a gruesome one.

That was a _lot_ of blood.

With a slight shrug of his shoulders, Naruto looked back up at the motionless girl, wearing only what was most likely her nightclothes, and gave her a lopsided grin.

"Hey, nee-chan, you wouldn't happen to know where I am, would you?"

The girl had a slightly shocked look on her face and her response came out sounding a little robotic.

"You're… in a small town on the outskirts of Ghirapur."

-.-

Silence stretched out between them, and despite the oddity of the situation, Chandra had to hold back a giggle at he confused look on the boy's face. With his bright blue eyes and his wild blond hair, coupled with the whisker-like marks on his cheeks, he looked rather cute.

"Eh?" He suddenly said, his eyes scrunched-up and narrow. He moved to cross his arms over his chest, but a twinge of pain flashed through his eyes and he aborted the movement.

"Never heard of it before."

The blunt statement almost made Chandra drop the candleholder in her hand. _'Never heard of it before?'_ She thought incredulously, _'Does he mean he's never heard of Ghirapur before? Has this guy been living under a rock his entire life?'_

Before she could begin questioning the odd boy in front of her, a deceptively loud growl cut through the air in the room. It was so loud that for a brief moment Chandra thought there was a beast of some kind waiting for them just outside the door.

Then the boy blushed, grinning and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Hey, nee-chan, you got something to eat around here? I'm kinda starving." He chuckled a little, rubbing his stomach, and Chandra tried valiantly to hold back another giggle.

As she turned to go and wake her parents, as she could see the sun only just beginning to rise over the horizon through a nearby window, Chandra could only wonder.

 _'_ _What's a nee-chan?'_

-.-

The moment Chandra had woken her mother, she'd rushed downstairs to check up on the odd blond boy. Only slightly miffed at her mother's actions, Chandra couldn't help but understand her mother's urgency.

After all, Chandra had been the one to find the boy.

She'd been out wandering the forests that circled one edge of this little town when she'd stumbled upon him. She'd spotted a beautiful horn lodged high up in a tree when, through the leaves, she'd spied a massive striped beast snuffling around and growling in the undergrowth. Through the underbrush Chandra had caught sight of bright orange cloth, and just as the beast opened it's gaping maw to devour what would undoubtedly be it's next meal, Chandra's hands ignited.

She'd scared off the massive beast and it's companions, and only after getting her flaming hands under control did she begin to shuffle through the thick bush that ensconced the base of a massive tree.

The sight presented to her was gruesome enough to cause Chandra to lose her morning's meal.

Even sick to her stomach Chandra had enough common sense to realize that the boy was still breathing. She'd steeled herself, lifted the - rather small - boy into her arms as gingerly as possible, and taken off for the village as quickly as possible.

Her parents had managed to rent a small rickety cottage on the edge of the village for a small sum of money, and it was here that Chandra took the horribly mutilated boy.

Her mother had screamed and nearly fainted immediately upon seeing the boy, stark naked, bloody and limp in Chandra's arms, but it didn't take her long to set him down on a couple of blankets and begin attempting to stem his bleeding wound.

Hours had passed where Chandra's father had attempted to distract her - with words and with trinkets - to no avail. Chandra could not get the image of the wounded boy out of her mind and wondered, with morbid curiosity, just what in the world could have given him such a horrible wound.

By the time night had fallen, Chandra's mother had returned to the tiny bedroom upstairs claiming that the boy had - miraculously - survived, and that he was asleep and resting.

Now, as the light of the morning sun lit the bottom floor of the tiny cottage, illuminating a small family and their wounded houseguest, Chandra couldn't help but marvel at the craziness of her current situation.

Just yesterday afternoon this boy had been lying, bloody and dying, in the middle of an unnamed forest. Yet, here he was, sitting with them around the tiny, circular, wobbly table, enjoying breakfast, with his laughter ringing throughout the house.

"Naruto," Chandra suddenly spoke up, gaining not only Naruto's attention, but the attention of her parents as well. For a moment, she simply stared down into her plate of eggs, shuffling them around with an old fork, before she looked up.

Vibrant orange stared interestedly into brilliant blue.

"How," She began, curious but cautious. She gulped, and tried again, "Why were you in that forest?

Chandra had been expecting a lot of things. Hopefully a tale of adventure and excitement, with a close-call and a daring escape. Naruto was interesting, and Chandra couldn't see how such an interesting person could _not_ have an interesting tale to tell.

She had not been expecting Naruto's response.

His eyes, a brilliant blue that Chandra was quick becoming accustomed to, faded to a deep, sombre navy. His expression was shadowed as he titled his chin down to hide his eyes behind his bangs.

For a moment, Chandra thought he wouldn't respond.

"I'm not sure."

His voice was surprisingly quiet - Chandra had already gotten used to how loud and boisterous this boy could be - and she noticed his knuckles had gone white as he gripped the fork in his hand tightly.

"You're… not sure?" Chandra repeated, trying to wrap his words around her head. Absently, she noted that her parents were being suspiciously quiet. They were letting her handle this situation.

Naruto had an odd look on his face, something Chandra couldn't place.

"The last thing I remember," He said, "Was fighting my best friend."

A hush fell over the occupants of the room.

"Why would you fight your best friend?" Chandra asked, a quiet, questioning tone in her voice. Naruto just shook his head and closed his eyes.

"That's…. that's a very long story, Chandra-chan." Naruto let out a sigh, and even though she'd only known him for all but a couple of minutes, Chandra couldn't help but feel that such a downtrodden look was _wrong_ on Naruto.

He looked up from his plate - his eggs a scrambled mess - and took a moment to stare all three members of the Nalaar family in the eye.

"I…" He paused, looking as if he was going to say one thing and then changed his mind, "Can you be truthful with me?" He asked, his cerulean gaze steady and sharp. Chandra was a little surprised by the intensity behind them.

Kiran, Chandra's father, put down his fork and knife and leaned his elbows on the edge of the rickety table.

"We will be truthful only if you are truthful with us, Naruto." Chandra watched as the boy's thin blond eyebrows rose, almost disappearing beneath the blue headband he wore on his brow. "It is not every day that a young boy is found with a fatal injury in the middle of the woods, no matter how well you seem to be recovering from it." Kiran said gruffly, looking Naruto over with a critical eye.

In all honesty, he looked fine. With his chest wrapped in brand new bandages and wearing one of Chandra's old tunics - he really was very tiny for a boy - coupled with his normal exuberance, Naruto looked to be well on the road to a perfect recovery.

In fact, if it weren't for the bandages still wrapped around his chest and the fact that she'd seen both his old bandages _and_ the original wound that had been underneath, Chandra wouldn't have believed that Naruto had ever been injured at all.

It was remarkable, really.

Naruto gave Kiran a smile. It was a small thing, just a small tilt of the lips and a flash of white teeth, but it was one of the most sincere things any of the Nalaar family had ever seen.

"Yeah, I think I can accept that, Kiran-oji."

Her father nodded, leaned back in his chair - the wooden construct creaking beneath his muscular bulk - and folded his fingers over his belly. They waited like that, silent and staring, for a couple of moments as Naruto gathered his thoughts.

Then he turned to look at her.

"Chandra-chan…" He began slowly, as if he was still trying to piece something together in that seemingly ever-hyperactive head of his, "This morning, when I woke up, I asked you where I was." He said.

It wasn't hard for Chandra to remember that conversation.

"Yeah, I told you we were in a town on the outskirts of Ghirapur." She eyed Naruto with a probing glance, "From the way you responded, I'd figured that you lived somewhere pretty remote, if you didn't recognize the name Ghirapur."

Naruto frowned at her words, his brow creasing and eyes narrowing in thought.

"That's the thing," He said, "From the way you're making it sound, this Ghirapur place must be pretty important, right?" He looked to each occupant in the room, searching their gazes, almost as if he were asking them for confirmation.

All three members of the Nalaar family nodded. Naruto let out an irritated huff.

"Then how come I've never heard of it before? I mean, where _is_ this Ghirapur place anyway?" Naruto ran a hand through his mess of spiky hair, mussing it up.

Kiran glanced at his wife, and from the look in her eyes he could see she was beginning to come to the same conclusion he seemed to be drawing on.

"Naruto…" Kiran spoke slowly, his low, rumbling voice gaining Naruto's attention, "You… you _do_ know that we're on the planet of Kaladesh, right?"

Naruto's gaze held nothing but confusion as he stared up into the bearded face of the man sitting opposite him.

"The planet of what-now?" The small blond reached up to scratch absentmindedly at his cheek, his blue eyes squinting in effort as he tried to process Kiran's words.

Then he froze.

His blue eyes widened.

"Hey, hey now, Kiran-san," Naruto focused intently on Kiran, his eyes piercing and slightly panicked, "Don't go telling me you live somewhere other than the Elemental Nations?" Naruto leaned forwards and slammed his palms onto the wooden table, his plate of eggs - now cold and forgotten - clattering to the floor and shattering at Naruto's feet. Chandra and her mother both jumped at the sound, but Naruto seemed unfazed and unconcerned, his gaze not leaving Kiran's for even a moment.

Chandra watched as her father frowned down at Naruto with concern, his eyes saddening at the sight of the boy in front of him. Chandra could sympathize; Naruto looked a rather poor sight, with his hair ruffled, eyes wild and a thick wad of bandages wrapped around his chest.

"I'm… sorry, Naruto. I've never heard of the Elemental Nations before."

Naruto's shoulders slumped.

"Never heard of…" The thought seemed completely incomprehensible to him. "What about the Land of Fire?" Kiran shook his head. "Konoha? Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves?" Another shake of the head. " _Shinobi?_ At least tell me you've heard of shinobi before, Kiran-san!" A final shake.

Naruto leaned back and slipped down in his chair, expression defeated.

"Where the heck am I?" The words were mumbled, and Chandra supposed that Naruto didn't even realize he'd uttered them.

"Naruto." Kiran spoke up again, regaining the defeated boy's attention. "I will be honest with you, I have never heard of any of these places or things before. To me, it seems unbelievable that someone would not know about Ghirapur, let alone Kaladesh as a whole; but, I must assume that this is the same for you, and that you can not imagine anyone not knowing about these places and things you speak of." He said.

It took a moment for Naruto to wrap his head around Kiran's words, before he nodded in understanding.

"So," Kiran began, tone calm, "I will tell you all I know about Ghirapur and Kaladesh, and then we will try our best to help you find your way home." Naruto perked up at Kiran's kind words, sitting up a little bit straighter in his seat. "In return, however," Said Kiran, "Would you tell us about these… Elemental Nations of yours?"

Naruto only needed to think for a moment before he nodded his head and spoke.

"Deal!"

-.-

It didn't take long for Kiran to begin describing the incredible technological haven that was Ghirapur. Naruto was enthralled with all of the descriptions of the world's advanced technologies. Kiran spoke of bridges and pathways that built and moved themselves to the benefit of the city's inhabitants, fuelled by the mysterious powers of Aether. Of beasts made of metal and of flying capsules piloted by humans. It was fascinating.

However, despite all of the world's incredible technological advances, not all was well. Kiran told Naruto of the courier business that he and his wife ran on the side, hidden away from their normal daily lives. How, on her first mission delivering a canister of Aether Chandra had been cornered by the city guards and their horrible leader. How, faced with the wrath of Ghirapur's tyrannical Consul, Kiran had grabbed his wife, his daughter, and fled for the hills. They'd left almost everything behind.

Once the largest Nalaar had finished his tale, Naruto sat back at the wobbly kitchen table and took a couple of minutes to gather his thoughts.

He closed his eyes, folded his arms across his bandaged chest - ignoring the slight twinge of pain - and sighed.

"Well," He began, and instantly the attention of the room's three other occupants was on him, "I guess my story starts with my birthday, October Tenth, forty-eight years after the founding of the Village Hidden in the Leaves…"

-.-

"… and then Sasuke, the bastard, is charging up his Chidori - but it's all black-like instead of the usual blue - and he goes and yells my name, all loud and angry, like _NA-RU-TO!_ So, I see him, with his Sharingan spinning like crazy and these gross hand-looking black wings sprouting from his back, and I start charging the Kyuubi's chakra into my Rasengan. Then, because the bastard was being a bastard, I shout out _SA-SUKE!_ and we both jump at each other."

Naruto took a moment to breathe, not noticing how all three members of his audience had been virtually sucked into his tale. Awe and horror warred across the faces of the members of the Nalaar family as they listened to Naruto weave an intricate tale of overcoming hardship through nothing more than sheer guts.

"We're about to meet in the middle, just above the river, when I realize what's going to happen. I've just shoved a Rasengan chok-full of the Kyuubi's chakra, and I'm going to slam it into Sasuke'd Chidori. Now, I know it sounds like I'm boasting, but believe me when I say I _know_ that my Rasengan is more powerful than Sasuke's Chidori technique. I knew, without a doubt, that if our techniques connected head-on, I'd end up shredding Sasuke to pieces."

Chandra gasped in shock and her mother covered her mouth with a hand. Kiran's gaze just hardened as he tried to force together the remaining pieces of this puzzle. Naruto was here, sitting with them and talking about his life story, so had he killed his best friend? But then, why had he been found, naked in a forest and with a huge hole in his chest, if he'd won the fight? Had he _not_ won the fight? Had Naruto lost against his best friend once more, even when victory finally seemed to be so close? Kiran didn't know, but _damn_ did he want to.

"I…" Suddenly, Naruto's expression turned melancholy. "I just couldn't do it, y'know? Sasuke was a traitor; he'd abandoned the village, his friends, just so he could get more power from that snake Orochimaru. But, he was still my best friend, no matter how much of a bastard he'd always been. I just… I couldn't kill him." Naruto took in a deep, shuddering breath, and clenched his fist tightly.

"So, as we were flying towards each other, each one of us using our strongest techniques, I moved."

The room seemed to freeze, nobody even daring to take a breath in the sheer intensity of the atmosphere.

"You… moved." Chandra suddenly said, so unsure of her own question, it came out as a statement. Naruto just nodded as if she'd said the most sensible thing in the world.

"Yeah. I moved. I moved my Rasengan just a little bit to the side, just enough so that it missed Sasuke."

Again, the room went quiet. Then Chandra's mother gasped, her other hand reaching up to cup her mouth as she looked at Naruto in horror. Kiran suddenly growled low in his throat, clutching his own forearm hard enough to make his bones creak under the strain.

"His lightning attack…" Kiran spoke up, voice low and scratchy. He wet his - suddenly very dry - lips with a quick flick of his tongue. "His assassination technique, Chidori, or whatever." He looked Naruto dead in the eyes, and unwavering blue stared back. "That attack connected, Naruto. You let him hit you."

Naruto didn't move. He didn't confirm Kiran's words, did not even so much as twitch to indicate that Kiran's words had affected him at all. Kiran had just effectively accused Naruto's best friend of nearly succeeding in killing him. Naruto remained expressionless.

Yet, with a heavy heart, Kiran knew that while Naruto wasn't confirming Kiran's suspicions, the mere fact that he _wasn't_ doing anything to deny the deed was telling enough.

With a sharp huff, Kiran dropped his head into his hands. This poor boy. This poor, incredible, one-of-a-kind boy.

"So… yeah. You can guess what happened next. I just… I don't remember any pain or anything, just suddenly feeling really weak. There was a lot of screaming, and then the world went kinda… white." Naruto shrugged, as if not really knowing how to explain this part of the story himself.

"Then, next thing I know, I'm waking up here." Naruto said, motioning vaguely with one hand as if to indicate just what 'here' implied.

-.-

 ** _AN:_** _Alright, here's chapter one of this one. Yeah, it's one o'clock in the morning. I'm going to sleep people. Just wanted to give a quick thanks to those who reviewed, followed and favourited! You're all very much appreciated, thank you. I have… plans for this one, and I, of course, want to see it well-received. Here's to hoping for the best!_

 _Peace!_

 _The Chthonic Professor_


	3. Roots

**_Wild Serenity_**

 ** _The Chthonic Professor_**

-.-

 ** _Chapter Two - Roots_** _(Imagine Dragons)_

-.-

Naruto grimaced as he looked at his reflection in the grubby mirror.

After telling his harrowing tale at the breakfast table, Kiran seemed to come to the decision that no matter where Naruto had come from or what he'd done in his life, he was a capable young man and that he should go upstairs, freshen up, and get outside to help him with his work.

So here Naruto found himself, still reeling from the day's events as blue eyes, confused and lost, stared back into his own. It seemed like the whole mission to retrieve Sasuke and the subsequent fight had happened months, or even years ago.

Yet, it had only been yesterday.

Naruto had died yesterday.

Oh, he knew he'd died. He wasn't about to disillusion himself. Sasuke arm had plunged all the way through his chest, coming right out the other side. His heart had been obliterated. He hadn't necessarily _felt_ it, because his entire body had gone numb, but Naruto _knew_ , for a fact, that he'd died.

His reflection staring back at him begged to differ.

Don't get him wrong, now, he was happy to be alive. He hadn't _wanted_ to die, but it was a better option than killing Sasuke, at the time. Naruto just didn't know _why_ he'd survived. He couldn't even disregard it as an odd, late-night ramen-induced nightmare.

The massive scar stretching across his chest like an angry red spider-web made sure of that.

Naruto touched the scar gingerly, watching as it seemed to pulse weakly with the beat of his heart. It was a disturbingly fascinating sight.

Most of the time the Kyuubi - locked up in his gut as it was - healed Naruto's wounds to the point that they didn't leave a scar - even wounds that were potentially fatal.

 _'_ _This, this right here,'_ Naruto thought to himself as he traced the veiny lines splaying out along the edges of the scar, _'Is a testament to the fact that I died. Not even the Kyuubi was able to heal it. This wound killed me.'_

Naruto was fascinated by the scar dominating the left side of his chest. While the veins protruding from the edges of the main scar were slightly raised from his skin, like most scars, the central circle of flesh itself was not. In fact, the mark cratered into his chest slightly, making it seem like a chunk of his chest had actually been blasted off of him.

As Naruto thought about the scar and its implications, his thoughts eventually turned to the person who'd given it to him in the first place.

 _'_ _Sasuke…'_ Thought Naruto, _'I wonder… where are you now? Did you really manage to escape, betray your village and your friends? Betray Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei? Betray_ me? _'_ Naruto clenched his fist, his knuckles digging into his scar as he pressed his hand against his chest. _'Or, did you return home? Did you even stay in the Elemental Nations, or were you sent to some other place like me?'_

Naruto's head was almost spinning with the number of thoughts whirling about in his mind. This whole thing was a chaotic mess, that was for sure. He'd been killed by his best friend solely for the sake of power, and yet he continued to live. For some reason unknown to Naruto, he'd managed to find himself someplace where they'd never heard of the Elemental Nations before; and where technology seemed to be advanced beyond anything Naruto had ever dreamed before.

He took a deep breath and steadied himself. He smiled, and the blue-eyed blond-haired reflection in the mirror smiled back at him.

 _'_ _Okay. Okay.'_ He smacked his cheeks, hard, and jumped up and down a little to get his blood flowing. _'This is nothing. This is_ nothing. _You literally died and came back. Even if you're in a whole 'nother dimension, getting back home shouldn't be too bad.'_

Naruto's resolve hardened.

 _'_ _I'm going to get back home.'_ His fists clenched as he vowed to himself in front of that chipped, grubby mirror, _'I'm going to get back home, and then I'll knock some sense into that damn swirly-eyed bastard's stupid head and keep my promise to Sakura-chan.'_

Naruto's grin was so wide his teeth were practically glinting off the surface of the mirror.

 _'_ _Because my name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I_ always _keep my promises!'_

-.-

When Naruto left the washroom on the second floor of the rickety cottage, he came upon the scene of Kiran kneeling before Chandra and grasping her firmly by the shoulders.

"Father." Chandra's tone was slightly trembling, and despite the fact that she was taller than him, Naruto couldn't help but think that she looked incredibly small in that moment. "Us being out here. Is it because of me? Because of what I did at the Foundry?"

Naruto paused on the on the top step. The words were different, and Naruto had no idea what a Foundry was, but he'd heard that tone before. For a moment, his mind flashed back to a different moment, a different place, in time.

 _"_ _Jiji," Naruto, only a couple of months younger than the present, yet looking just as small as Chandra, spoke. "Is it my fault? Did I really cause all those… am I really the Kyuubi?"_

Naruto was broken from his thoughts of the past, and of his deceased grandfather, by Kiran's voice.

"Chandra, listen to me." He said, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "Your mother and I are very proud of the person you're becoming. You're the most important thing in the world to us. We want you to know that everything we do, we do to keep you safe, and to make the world a better place for our family. Nothing else matters."

Naruto's breath hitched in his throat. He wondered, briefly, if his own father would have told him similar words. If his own mother and father were proud of him, and loved him, and wanted to keep him safe.

His heart ached.

It hurt. Oh, it hurt _so_ much, the knowledge that he would never experience something like this. There would always be those who loved him, Naruto knew that without a doubt. There was Iruka and the old man Hokage, and lately even Tsunade and maybe Jiraiya. This, though… this was something different.

Unconditional love. The absolute, unconditional love of a parent. For every person who loved him in this world, Naruto had to fight for that love. Had to grasp onto it tightly and refuse to let go until his stubbornness had payed off and his love was returned.

Naruto closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and took a moment to compose himself. Then, he dealt with his pain in the same way he always had.

With a smile.

Taking the steps two at a time, Naruto thundered his way into the kitchen with a mega-watt smile on his face, his too-blue eyes squinting with the force of his grin.

"Hey, old man, what're we doing today?" Naruto's loud voice instantly broke the atmosphere in the room and Kiran gave the boy a dry look.

"I am not old, Naruto." Kiran intoned tonelessly, but Naruto saw the slight upturn at the corners of the man's lips and his own smile became just a little more genuine. "That being said, the two of _you_ are still young and full of energy, so why don't you go ahead and explore the forest for the day while us adults," He nodded his head in the direction of his wife, who was just descending the stairs, "take care of things over here?"

Chandra's expression brightened instantly, and she leaped up into her father's arms, kissing his stubble-ridden cheek. "Thank you, father!" She exclaimed, spinning around and grasping Naruto's hand in her own. As Chandra headed for the creaky wooden door sitting at the front of the shack, her mother called out to them.

"Be back before dinner, you two!"

"Alright, we'll be back on time!" Chandra hollered over her shoulder.

Just like that, with Naruto left blinking stupidly at the sudden change of pace, the two children were outside and making a bee-line straight for the mass of trees sitting just outside the city limits.

-.-

For the next couple of days, Naruto found himself falling into a pattern.

It wasn't long before Naruto realized that he had been unable to contact the Kyuubi within his mind, and that his wound, which normally would have vanished by now, was taking a far longer time to heal. Due to his slowly healing injury, Naruto found himself tiring rather easily, and on the first day with Chandra exploring the nearby forest, she'd had to carry him home.

That was another thing Naruto had noticed. He was already beginning to call this place home, and that scared him. Konoha would _always_ be Naruto's home, of that he was certain. He loved the Hidden Leaf Village.

And yet… he still found himself falling into a wonderful pattern, one which made thoughts of this place becoming his new home _easy._ It _was_ , it was easy to see this place becoming his home.

Chandra's mother and father were such incredible people. The two had taken him in without a second thought, and had never ignored him or pushed his needs aside. Chandra herself was such a fun person to be around. Naruto had bonded with her almost immediately, and in the few days they'd spent with each other Naruto could already claim the fiery red-head as his best friend.

It was almost scary how well they got along.

The first day they'd spent wandering the forest together, Naruto had been curious about the odd metal contraption on her back. It had been puffing steam at irregular intervals and, honestly, it looked very uncomfortable to Naruto.

After a bit of pestering, Chandra had finally caved and explained her odd fire powers to Naruto, and how the so-called 'Vent Pack' was supposed to help her control her power. She confided in him, telling him that her power terrified her because it made her different, but how uncomfortable it felt to have it suddenly caged away.

She described her flame as a butterfly, bright and free, and the Vent Pack as a prison, slammed around butterfly, suffocating it and binding it's wings.

She'd had tears in her eyes, and in one of his rare moments of insight, Naruto could see the fear, the _real_ fear, in Chandra's eyes. The fear of liberation, of freedom, of the _unknown_.

Caught up in her glistening eyes and hitched breaths, Naruto made a decision that was the initial cement to their budding friendship.

-.- _Flashback_ -.-

Sunlight streamed down upon their heads through the branches above. The trees stretched into the sky, ancient and gnarled. The forest floor was alight with a golden glow, dust motes in the air giving the scene a mystical, otherworldly feel.

Naruto tried not to snort. Technically, _everything_ about this situation was otherworldly.

Despite the incredible mystical setting, Naruto couldn't exactly appreciate it at the moment. Not with his new friend in such a delicate state.

Chandra's dark orange eyes were misted over. She was worrying her lower lip between her teeth and clenching her fists tightly by her side as they stood face-to-face in the nameless forest.

Naruto mulled her words over in her mind. Even with the differences in their situations, or perhaps despite them, Naruto couldn't stop pointing out the similarities to himself.

He took a shaky breath.

Naruto had never really been good with people, or with emotions. He knew that, it was why he always leapt in with a smile on his face; he didn't really know how to deal with anything any other way.

This delicate situation, however, required something far more subtle than his typical 'smile at it with stubbornness until it sees your point of view' way of dealing with things.

Naruto would have to take a leap of faith, here. He'd open up, literally open himself to the possibility of pain, and for once, Naruto wasn't sure if he could take it. The other side of the metaphorical coin, however, was too much for Naruto to pass up. He could open himself up to the possibility of pain and rejection, but he could also open his heart to accept someone who would, hopefully, understand him. Someone who could, potentially, becoming the best friend Sasuke had never been and Gaara could never be.

"Chandra-chan," Naruto spoke, his voice soft. He reached out and put a hand on her arm, just below her shoulder. It was a delicate touch, his fingertips just barely brushing her bare skin, but it startled Chandra enough to she nearly jumped.

"It's pretty scary, isn't it? Having a power, a dangerous, _strong_ power, that you have no control over. It's scary." Her orange eyes had gone wide, but she had yet to let her tears fall. For a moment it looked like she'd stopped breathing as he spoke. Naruto could almost see her thoughts churning like clockwork gears. Her eyes, orange as a blazing sunset, were like windows allowing Naruto to look into her mind.

His fingers trailed down her arm until he reached her hand, gently slipping her fingers into his own. For just a moment, Naruto marvelled at how soft and warm her hand felt in his own. Tugging her lightly, he dragged her over to the base of a large tree, one where the tree roots lifted up high out of the ground creating a small enclosed circle of space. Moss hung down on either side of them, draped over the thick winding roots, and the golden light filtering down from above truly gave everything an ethereal feeling.

He pulled her down in front of him, the both of them sitting cross-legged upon the soft grass nestled against the base of the tree. They were so close that their knees were touching, pressing roughly up against each other, but neither of them seemed to notice.

"Chandra-chan," Naruto spoke up, his blue eyes staring, piercingly, "Back home, where I'm from, there are these demons that roam the world called the Biju, Tailed-Beasts…"

-.- _End Flashback_ -.-

And so, Naruto told her his story. Of his childhood, of the demon inside him, and of his struggles with accepting himself. Afterwards, he felt like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He hadn't realized just how much he'd needed to get that information off his chest, and now that it was out in the open, at least with Chandra, he felt so much lighter.

The days following their heart-to-heart Naruto could claim as some of the best of his life. They'd spent hours upon hours gallivanting about in the nameless forest, whirling and dancing through the golden underbrush with smiles on their faces and laughter in their throats. Running about without a care in the world, Chandra by his side, Naruto felt more at ease than ever before.

It was so easy to forget about the Elemental Nations with her at his side. Sasuke, Sakura, his sensei Kakashi, even the old pervert and Tsunade; none of them had clouded his thoughts during the days spent with Chandra in that enchanted forest. In only a couple of days Naruto was rapidly coming to see the passionate girl as the closest friend he'd ever had.

Naruto was jarred from his thoughts when a burst of flame careened past his face, nearly singeing his eyebrows. He blinked rapidly, eyes tearing up at the sudden dryness in the air. He shifted slightly as his eyes, blue as ever and bright with mirth, rolled sideways until he was staring, face completely deadpan, at a sheepish Chandra.

"Eh… whoops?" She shrugged, her vent pack jostling slightly with the movement.

Naruto laughed, a joyful, carefree sound, and raised his eyebrows at Chandra.

"You doin' alright over there, Chandra-chan?" He asked, a teasing lilt in his voice. She huffed at him, puffing up her cheeks, which were red with embarrassment.

"I'm getting the hang of it…" She grumbled and attempted to blow a stray strand of auburn hair away from her nose, only for it to fly up and settle back down in exactly the same spot. Ignoring Naruto's laughter, Chandra went back to lobbing tiny balls of fire at the slowly thinning herd of clones surrounding her.

Just the other day Naruto had prompted a change in their daily routine by returning to his shinobi training. He'd explained exactly what shinobi were and what their lifestyle was like to a wide-eyed Chandra before finding a clearing in the forest that would be useful for his training.

That day Chandra had spent solely watching Naruto train. Copies of him had run all about the clearing wielding spinning balls of destructive blue energy and tossing knives all over the place. It had been… impossibly exhilarating to watch something so inherently magical in nature be performed in such a seemingly simple manner.

The highlight of that day, for Chandra, had been witnessing the look in Naruto's eyes as he trained. Brilliant blue, hard with determination and drive, had been so much more inspiring than any words could ever be.

Chandra was reminded of a butterfly with wings of fire trapped behind prison bars.

The very next day, shy, but certain, Chandra had asked Naruto to help her train her own magical powers.

It was difficult at first. The Vent Pack would siphon away her fire before she could produce it. For nearly the entire first day of training Chandra was a frustrated mess, but she couldn't quit. Naruto was nothing but encouraging and helpful, and she refused to quit, _couldn't_ quit, because he had her back and believed in her.

It took a lot of time, a healthy amount of sweat and a couple of frustrated tears, but by the end of the day Chandra was able to force a tiny flame to flicker lightly in the palm of her hand. The flame wouldn't have looked out of place sitting atop a tiny candle, but it had elicited a blindingly massive grin from both pre-teens. Chandra couldn't remember a time where she'd ever been so happy before.

Watching Naruto as he chuckled lightly, tips of his hair slightly singed, Chandra's heart was light as air as she returned to practicing her Pyromancy.

She couldn't have know that this day would become the darkest day in her life.

-.-

It was dark when it happened.

Chandra knew something was wrong the moment a Thopter passed with a low thrum overhead. Startled by the sudden _whoosh_ of noise Chandra froze, her gaze locking with Naruto's from across the clearing. Simultaneously the two pre-teens took off into the forest at a dead sprint, rushing towards the outskirts of the latest village where they'd been staying.

Naruto burst through the foliage before she did, but Chandra was taller than Naruto and so could see the utter chaos over the top of his head.

There was fire _everywhere_. People, villagers, were running about screaming for their lives as guards marched through the village armed to the teeth. Thopters circled overhead, their pilots intimidating and their points glinting ominously in the light of the burning village.

They'd been surrounded the moment they reached the edge of the village. Baral, Captain of the Guard, had prepared an ambush for them as his men burned the village to the ground.

"There she is," the Captain pointed at Chandra and spoke in his low, gravelly voice. "Get her," He commanded, "and kill the boy. We have no need of him."

For just a moment the world seemed to freeze. Chandra felt her heart leap into her throat at the commander's words, and her orange eyes - bright with fright - locked onto Naruto's startled blue.

In that moment, frozen in time, as the Baral's men hesitated - just for a split second - at his cutthroat command, Chandra witnessed something truly breathtaking. Something that would stay close to her heart and help her push through each day to the next, always moving forwards.

Naruto's eyes, blue and shining, erupted in an inferno of pure guts and determination. His gaze was so intense Chandra would swear his eyes were glowing with a pulsating light in the darkness of the night.

"Run, Chandra-chan," Naruto's voice was a low growl. He was snarling, canines visible under the shine of the moon, his glare zeroing in on Baral. "Find your parents and get outta' here. I'll hold them off."

Even through the tears and the smoke that were beginning to blur her vision, the sight of Naruto in that moment would be burned into her memory for as long as she lived.

"Naruto…" She breathed out softly.

His blonde hair, spiky and unruly as ever, was blowing fiercely in the wind. His left hand was raised, grasping the large leather goggles strapped to his forehead, and his right hand was shoved deep into the pockets of his thick worker's pants. The brown leather jacket her father had given him was flapping harshly in time with his wildly blowing hair, revealing the plain white shirt her wore underneath. His eyes were practically twinkling in the flickering light of the burning village, and his grin was nothing but shit-eating and mischievous.

For just a fraction of an instant, he looked back at her.

"Don't worry. I'll be right behind you."

He winked at her over his shoulder and pulled down his goggles over his eyes. His right elbow twitched only the slightest bit, but it was enough to draw Chandra's eyes over to his right arm. Naruto pulled his hand from his pocket slightly, showing off a pair of identical black marbles to a wide-eyed Chandra who was standing far enough behind him to just barely be able to see them.

Chandra rushed to tug her own goggles down over her eyes and leapt to the side. In the exact same instant Naruto flicked his wrist, launching the two marbles forcefully into the charred dirt at his feet.

The world was cloaked in darkness, billowy clouds of smoke erupting all around them.

Chandra heard Naruto's battle-cry… and ran.

-.-

 ** _AN:_** _Yeah… so this ended up being far longer than I intended it to be, so I'm splitting it into two different chapters. Thank you to everyone who followed, favourited, and reviewed, I love you all, you're the coolest people literally ever. And not the white-girl-who's-obsessed-with-starbucks literally, but literally literally, because apparently I'm the one who decides the coolness factor of everyone ever._

 _Also, just really wanted to make that pun._

 _Peace, my little Hellions!_

 _The Chthonic Professor_


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